Page 105 - American Stories, A History of the United States

mainland colonies. Historians once interpreted these events as rehearsals for the
3.1 American Revolution, or even for Jacksonian democracy in the 1830s. They perceived
the rebels as frontier democrats, rising against an entrenched aristocracy.
Research suggests, however, that this view misconstrued these late-seventeenth-
3.2 century rebellions. The uprisings were not confrontations between ordinary people
and their rulers. Indeed, the events were not in any modern sense of the word ideologi-
cal. In each colony, the local gentry split into factions, usually the “outs” versus the

3.3 “ins,” and each side proclaimed its political legitimacy.

civil War in virginia: bacon’s Rebellion
3.4 After 1660, the Virginia economy suffered a prolonged depression. Returns from

tobacco had not been good for some time, and the Navigation Acts reduced profits
even further. Indentured servants complained about lack of food and clothing. It is
3.5 no wonder that Virginia’s governor, Sir William Berkeley, despaired of ever ruling
“a People where six parts of seven at least are Poor, Endebted, Discontented and
Armed.” In 1670, he and the House of Burgesses disfranchised all landless freemen,
persons they regarded as troublemakers, but the threat of social violence remained.
Things changed when Nathaniel Bacon arrived in Virginia in 1674. This ambitious
young man came from a respectable English family and set himself up immediately as
a substantial planter. But he wanted more. Bacon envied the government patronage
monopolized by Berkeley’s cronies, a group known locally as the Green Spring faction.
When Bacon attempted to obtain a license to engage in the fur trade, he was rebuffed.
This lucrative commerce was reserved for the governor’s friends. If Bacon had been
willing to wait, he probably would have been accepted into the ruling clique, but as
events would demonstrate, he was not a patient man.
Events beyond Bacon’s control thrust him suddenly into the center of Virginia
politics. In 1675, Indians reacting to white encroachment attacked outlying planta-
tions, killing colonists, and Virginians expected the governor to send an army to retali-
ate. Instead, early in 1676, Berkeley called for constructing a line of defensive forts, a
plan that the settlers considered both expensive and ineffective. Indeed, the strategy
raised embarrassing questions. Was Berkeley protecting his own fur monopoly? Was
he planning to reward his friends with contracts to build useless forts?
While people speculated, Bacon offered to lead a volunteer army against the Indians
at no cost to the hard-pressed Virginia taxpayers. All he demanded was an official com-
mission from Berkeley giving him military command and the right to attack other Indi-
ans, not just the hostile Susquehannocks. The governor refused. With some justification,
Berkeley regarded his upstart rival as a fanatic on the subject of Indians. The governor saw
no reason to exterminate peaceful tribes simply to avenge the death of a few white settlers.
What followed would have been comic had not so many people died. Bacon thundered
against the governor’s treachery; Berkeley labeled Bacon a traitor. Both men appealed to
the populace for support. On several occasions, Bacon marched his followers to the fron-
tier, but they either failed to find the enemy or, worse, massacred friendly Indians. At one
point, Bacon burned Jamestown to the ground, forcing the governor to flee to the colony’s
Eastern Shore. Bacon’s bumbling lieutenants chased Berkeley across Chesapeake Bay only
to be captured themselves. Thereupon, the governor mounted a new campaign.
bacon’s rebellion An armed As Bacon’s Rebellion dragged on, it became apparent that Bacon and his gentry
rebellion in virginia (1675–1676) supporters had only the vaguest notion of what they were trying to achieve. The mem-
led by Nathaniel bacon against bers of the planter elite never seemed to appreciate that the rank-and-file soldiers,
the colony’s royal governor, sir
William berkeley. Although some often black slaves and poor white servants, had legitimate grievances against Berkeley’s
of his followers called for an end corrupt government and were demanding reforms, not just a share in the governor’s
to special privilege in government, fur monopoly.
bacon was chiefly interested When Charles II learned of the fighting in Virginia, he dispatched 1000 regular
in gaining a larger share of the soldiers to Jamestown. By the time they arrived, Berkeley had regained control over
lucrative indian trade.
the colony’s government. In October 1676, Bacon died after a brief illness, and his
followers soon dispersed.
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